Frank Sartor has retained both his Planning and Redfern Waterloo
Ministries and has also been given the Arts portfolio. As a result the new
CarriageWorks theatre at North Eveleigh now
comes under his ministerial umbrellas in Redfern Waterloo. According to ABC News
“the Property Council says leaving Frank Sartor in the job of Planning Minister
will help with long-term strategy.”

In the lead up to the election REDWatch prepared An
Agenda for Redfern Waterloo Changes in 2007 - State Election Issues and
some associated Questions
for Candidates for March 24th 2007 NSW Election. Responses were made to the
questions by the Greens, The Socialist Alliance, The Socialist Equality Party,
the Climate Change Coalition and the ALP. These same parties along with the
Democrats were involved in the candidate’s forums and their involvement was
greatly appreciated. It says a lot about the State Liberal Party’s lack of
interest in Redfern Waterloo that neither of their candidates attended the
candidate’s forum or responded to the REDWatch questions.

As the ALP established the RWA and had the
two candidates likely to be returned in the new government their responses to
the REDWatch questions were keenly awaited. The ALP response to the questions
did not arrive until March 20th, just four days before the polls and
after the two REDWatch candidate’s forums where people could have questioned
them about their responses. The joint response from Kristina Keneally and
Carmel Tebbutt, which can be seen at ALP
Response to REDWatch questionnaire, failed to answer the REDWatch questions
and instead provided a compendium of RWA statements to reiterate what a great
job the government and RWA has been doing for the area. We especially liked the
reference in the ALP document to “quarterly community forums” as a current RWA
activity, when one of the REDwatch questions asked why no forums have been
held!

With the ALP candidates ignoring the
REDWatch questions and the Premier deciding to reappoint Mr Sartor as the
Minister for Redfern Waterloo, it looks like the Iemma government plans to
continue to try to fast track development in Redfern Waterloo disregarding community concerns about the lack of
participation of local people in the process.

Human Services funding for the RWA is
nearing its end. With Phase One of the RWA Human Services Plan in place the
Premier’s “promise to the people of NSW to deliver real improvements in the
services” may be one of the few bright spots for Redfern Waterloo, provided the
creation of a number of specialist human services ministers does not lead to a
discontinuity in the provision of services rather than better integration which
is needed.

We congratulate all the new Ministers,
especially Kristina Keneally, Linda Burney and Verity Firth who have all had
involvement in Redfern Waterloo in some way over the years. Given their new
ministerial responsibilities we hope to see that experience produce better
outcomes for the people of Redfern Waterloo as well as the broader state in the
new parliamentary term. The full list of ministers as announced can be seen on
the REDWatch site at Iemma names ten new faces for
cabinet .

Assistant Police Commissioner Catherine Burn who was the Redfern Local
Area Commander until December 2006 has been named the NSW Woman of the Year.
Catherine was nominated by The Minister for Police, Michael Mundine from the
Aboriginal Housing Company and Heffron MP Kristina Keneally. We congratulate
Catherine on her much deserved award for her work in Redfern. You can read a
couple of the media stories about the award in the ABC’s Police
officer named NSW Woman of the Year and the SMH’s Policewoman named NSW Woman
of the Year.

Following the Indigenous Land Corporation’s open day at the old school
site the ILC has issued a written response to many of the issues raised on the
day. This can be found on the REDWatch website at ILC
- National Indigenous Development Centre - Open House Q & A's. The
questions asked by locals included: removal of trees; parking and traffic
flows; security; the design and potential noise fromMurrawina,
PCYC and other activities. Issues of community involvement, access to open
space and employment are addressed as well as questions about how the NIDC will
operate, be owned and managed. A range of other issues were also raised and
responded to in the ILC response. The ILC through its consultants Twyford
Consulting would welcome any feed back or further questions. They can be
contacted by email at Twyford@twyford.com.au;
Phone 1800 11 00 55; or post at PO
Box 6004 Wollongong
NSW 2500.

On March 11th 2007, in the presence of Federal Minister
Brendan Nelson and Minister for Redfern Waterloo Frank Sartor, the Exodus
Tutorial Centre Redfern was launched. The Rev. Bill Crews has made arrangements
with the South Sydney Uniting Church Parish to use one of their properties near
Alexandria Park
Community School
to operate the tutorial centre until the ILC has completed work on the former Redfern School site. Initial financial support
has been provided by the state and federal governments and sponsorship is being
sought to fund the ongoing programme. The intensive tutorial programme will
draw Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children that are falling behind in literacy
from the local schools on the basis of need. Miranda Devine from the Sun Herald
visited the centre in the week before the opening and wrote the article Sick of burying kids,
Crews learns how best to save them. Other material handed out at the
opening can be found on the REDWatch website at Exodus
Tutorial Centre Redfern .

The Health Administration Corporation for the Department of Health has
made their Major Project application (MP 07_0011) for the Redfern Community
Health Centre at the old court and police station. In the process of the
application for Director General’s Requirements the Health Administration
Corporation have provided information about what is proposed. These documents
are now available on the Department of Planning website: Preliminary
Environmental Assessment (PDF 168KB); Heritage Redfern
Courthouse Revision (PDF 2,329KB); Redfern
Final Drawings (PDF 350KB); Traffic
Report (PDF 989KB); DGRs (PDF
1,030 KB) and Major
Project Application (PDF 1,265KB). Any inquiries about the major project
application should be addressed to Sri Soerono (02) 9228 6585 at the Department
of Planning.

The Redfern Health Centre is being paid for by the sale and development
of the old Rachel Forster hospital. An application has been lodged with the
Department of Planning for the Rachel Forster site but so far the concept plan
has not appeared on the Department of Planning’s Major Project
Register.

REDWatch has included links to all Major Projects on the Department of
Planning’s website within each of the Redfern Waterloo State Significant site
sections at http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/
. Any new information concerning each of the sites will be posted there and
will also show up in the Recent
Changes section of the website.

On 29th March 2007 RWA CEO Robert Domm and his senior planning
and project staff went for a walk through the Large Erecting Shop (LES) at
Eveleigh. Regrettably 3801 Ltd had not been advised of the visit and no
discussions took place between the current occupants of the LES and the RWA
senior staff undertaking the inspection. The identities of the visitors only
became known after the event when the names were noticed in the visitor’s book.

The visit follows clarification from RailCorp that the cost to make
repairs to the LES to ensure its adequacy was likely to be in the $3-5million
range rather than an earlier indicated $12million. This compares with figure in
the independent report commissioned by 3801 Ltd of $2.9million over 5 years to
deal with the work required on the LES.

In an email on 8th March Robert Domm said “the RWA has not
undertaken any detailed work on the LES and the only verbal advice received has
been from RailCorp … Our position is simply that a commercial solution will
need to be found if the building is to be adaptively re-used or restored.”

There are a number of people who are keen to see an active heritage /
tourism outcome at the LES. A renovation cost that is less than the cost of the
pedestrian bridge to link the North and South Eveleigh
seems a small cost to preserve such a historic building. The challenge will be
to see if a heritage solution can be developed that will satisfy the RWA.

One of the operational problems for RTM in running steam trips out of
Sydney with 3801 is how to have the engine ready to go in the morning when it
has to travel from Thirlmere when RailCorp and RTM are trying to avoid using
Eveleigh. Currently 3801 is coming down the afternoon before the trip and is
being kept over-night at Mortuary Station. This is now creating problems for
those who live in units around the old Mortuary Station. We received an email
recently advising that Chippendale
residents are unhappy with overnight parking of Steam Trains at Mortuary
Station. The Friends of Eveleigh have come out in support of Chippendale
residents saying that the Eveleigh
Railway Complex must be used to Overnight Heritage Trains. We hear that
consideration is being given to turn the Mortuary Station into a regular
holding area and that water and de-ashing is being considered for the site.
Chippendale residents are not amused.

Maitland residents are also not amused that their annual Steamfest might
be in jeopardy as a result of the change in ownership of locomotive 3801. In
the lead up to the state election the government bailed out the Steamfest for
this year but the future is uncertain. The Friends of Eveleigh responded to a
local media story about the problem with their media release Maitland
Steamfest Victim of 3801 Change of Operator?.

Recently legal action was taken by a local resident challenging the
Minister’s decision on the CUB site. This is being done to get a more
acceptable environmental outcome and given the Anvill Hill precedent legal
opinion is that there is a better than 50% chance of success. In a recent
article Courts the new battleground
in war against nature Elizabeth Farrelly makes reference to the challenge.

The issue is being taken up by the Friends of the Carlton United Site
(FoCUS) which is a single issue community group, formed specifically to get a
better outcome both socially and environmentally for the CUB site. A committee
is being formed to concentrate on the legal challenge. Their role will be to keep the broader
community informed and involved, to arrange community meetings and communicate
to the media as well as organise activities to assist in funding the legal
challenge. FoCUS recognises not everyone has the time or resources to actively
support this campaign, but they are looking for broad community support at
community meetings and fund raisers which are essential to the eventual success
of the legal challenge. If you are able to support this campaign, in any
capacity please contact focus@pacific.net.au.

Redfern Street Public Art needs creative input – 4th
& 5th April 6pm

The City of Sydney
is holding two workshops to obtain community input into the “Regent
Bower” Sculpture proposed for the Jack Floyd Reserve as part of the Redfern St upgrade.
The Milne and Stonehouse’s sculpture is inspired by the bower bird which
borrows blue objects such as pegs and bottle tops to attract females during his
courtship dance. The sculpture will borrow its treasures from the experiences
and stories of the Redfern community. The Redfern community is invited to come
to workshops with their favourite objects. These objects will be photographed
and the corresponding story recorded. Those objects that best lend themselves
to the purpose will be represented by a custom shaped glass tile and set in the
Redfern St footpath. The workshops will be held at the Redfern Community
Centre, 29-53 Hugo Street,
Redfern, on 4th & 5th April at 6 - 8pm. More information is available on
the CoS website at Redfern Public Sculpture Workshop.

The City of Sydney
has discovered that part of the Jack Floyd Reserve, where the “Regent
Bower” Sculpture is proposed, is actually within the area under RWA control. As
a result the City has had to lodge a DA with the RWA and this is currently on
exhibition until 20th April 2007. The proposal can be seen on the RWA site at RWA
DAs on Exhibition.

Technically this means that some of the work already done on Jack Floyd
Reserve was done without proper approval. This will not be the first DA anomaly
under the RWA as we are told that the ILC put up fencing around the old Redfern School prior to the approval of their
DA.

This may not be the only boundary anomaly in the RWA State Significant
areas either. We have been told that, while many people thought the old Allena
Centre in Lawson Street
was within the RWA State Significant zoning, the maps show it is outside the
RWA area. If this is so, the property which was purchased by the Department of
Health for the Lawson Street Community Health Centre will not benefit from RWA
rezoning when the Health Department resell the property.

We understand that options for Redfern station are nearing completion
and that these will not come to the community until they have been assessed by
the relevant ministers and cabinet. Any suggestion when the Built Environment
Plan was released that the options would come back to the community following
the initial work is no longer on the table. The community is now likely to only
see the final proposal when it goes on exhibition following cabinet approval.

One of the sites that the ILC is involved with is the old Black Theatre
site. The following information has been supplied to a local resident by the
ILC and we have been asked us to pass it on to the community. This updates some
of what we ran on 25th October 2006 when the Black Theatre site
proposal was on exhibition with City of Sydney.
A photomontage of what is proposed can be seen at www.redwatch.org.au/links/070315bt/image_view_fullscreen

“The ILC are developing the historic Black Theatre
Site located at 27-31 Cope Street
Redfern. The property has been vacant for about 20 years. It had previously
been used for a variety of purposes but most widely remembered as the first
Aboriginal theatre in the Sydney
area. The property was transferred to the ILC following the abolition of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Commission by Ministerial Declaration in March 2005. The ILC undertook
community consultation on the proposed future use of the site in March 2006 and
this resulted in the Project Architects, Tonkin
Zulaikha Greer, coming up with a design of a mixed commercial development that
provided benefits to the local Aboriginal community. The new three storey
building will provide for retail use on the ground floor, office accommodation
on the second, and a purpose-built radio station and recording studios for
Gadigal Information Services (local broadcaster Koori Radio) on the third.”

“The Development Application for the proposed
building was submitted to City of Sydney
Council in September 2006 and is expected to be
approved by mid-March. The ILC is working closely with the Redfern-Waterloo
Authority to ensure Aboriginal training and employment opportunities are
created through the construction of the new building and have identified 7
positions in various trades for a development of this size. The ILC hopes to commence construction at the old
Black Theatre Site by May 2007 and aims for a completion date of March 2008.”

As the City of Sydney owns Pemulwuy Park
and laneways covered by the AHC’s proposed Pemulwuy Project the City of Sydney Council has to
provide owners consent before the AHC application can proceed to the next
stage. The council officers have prepared a report for the Council’s Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee
Monday 26 March. The AHC met on Monday April 2nd
with Councillors and clarified a number of issues that were raised in the
officer’s report. The amount of public space in the AHC proposal was clarified
as were issues relating to FSRs and Heights and how these operate under Part 3A
of the EPA Act. Council agreed to the officer’s recommendation on April 2 with
an amendment which gave council greater flexibility in deciding the terms of
any disposal of council land. The Council consent allows the AHC to submit
their Concept Plans for the site and any decisions about disposal of council
land, land swaps etc will be negotiated at a later stage of the process.

Desperate Houso (DoH's
Ungood New Policy: Relocating Tenants for Fun and Profit) has
alerted us to a new Department of Housing Policy which appeared on the DoH
website a week out from the election which is creating concern for some DoH
tenants. The policy Relocating
Tenants for Management Purposes - +EST0038A, seems to give
the department increased ability to move DoH tenants at the department’s
discretion. The policy also applies to Aboriginal Housing Office tenants living
in properties managed by the Department of Housing. It is just as well that the
NSW government has given Redfern and Waterloo
tenants concrete assurances that their tenancies are secure.

The Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety Program commenced in the area in
2002. Since then Council has chaired, co-ordinated and developed the
Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety Taskforce which has involved a number of
residents, government and non-government
agencies, community organisations and local businesses working together
to develop the Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety Plan. The plan is the first of
its kind for the area and has been implemented and monitored over the last
three years (2003-2006) by the Safety Taskforce. The Taskforce was one of five
committees established by the Redfern-Waterloo Partnership Project and remains
the only such forum to have developed a plan for the area and is the only
committee established from that time which continues to meet and implement its
objectives. Although in its infancy, the Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety
Program has made significant progress over the last three years. Several
innovative projects have been developed which have not only had some positive
impact in terms of reducing crime, but have been beneficial in terms of
building and strengthening the local community.

John Maynard who is the Council’s
Community Safety Officer will talk about what the Community Safety Plan has
achieved at the REDWatch meeting on Wednesday 4th April 2007 at 6pm at the
Factory Community Centre.

In the last update we advised that the RWA was re-exhibiting amended
drafts of both the RWA Contributions Plan and the Affordable Housing
Contributions Plan. Submissions close on 5 April 2007. The RWA has undertaken
an analysis of how their proposed Plan compares with surrounding Plan however
the figures have not yet been publicly released. The RWA say that their figures
compare favourably with the old South Sydney Section 94 contributions and that,
unlike the new City of Sydney proposed contributions, the RWA does not have to
buy land for open space as they are making allowance for open space in their
Built Environment Plan. Given the concerns about the RWA Contributions Plan
being too low it would have been helpful if the RWA had released their working
figures prior to the close of the re-exhibition. In short however the questions
of adequacy of the contributions plans have already been dismissed by the Minister
and the only changes being contemplated are those included in the plan on
re-exhibition.

The RWA will now have to start work on putting together an Affordable
Housing Programme outlining how the affordable housing contributions will be
spent and hopefully also how it can be leveraged to provide the maximum
affordable housing possible in the area. We noticed in the press an article Equity trade-off for bigger
home loans about a new type of equity mortgage being launched which may provide some idea of how the affordable
housing purchase options mentioned by the RWA might work.

“As you may be aware, the New South Wales Government and Opposition have
so far refused to fund a major new program to tackle child abuse in Aboriginal
communities. The program was developed in response to Breaking the Silence, a
300 page report commissioned by the Attorney General and written by a task
force headed by Aboriginal leader, Marcia Ella-Duncan. The report found that
child abuse in Aboriginal communities had reached “epidemic proportions,” with
child sexual assault up to four times the rate of the general population.
Although the Government approach to Breaking the Silence makes a lot of sense,
without any new funds it’s doomed to fail.”

Black Fellas
Dreaming Museum looking for Support

We have been asked to pass on the request from Gordon Syron that the Black Fellas
Dreaming Museum
is looking for a philanthropist or organisation who will continue the museum as
a non-profit social enterprise employing Aboriginal people.

The Blackfellas
Dreaming Museum
is a large and overwhelming testimony of Australian History through Aboriginal
eyes. And it easily moves people. Gathered by an Aboriginal man, Gordon Syron,
an urban Aboriginal art pioneer, it is one of the largest Aboriginal owned
collections and is not connected to any institution. The art works are
currently being catalogued for a Bonhams & Goodmans auction with a date set
for 9 May 2007. This collection should
not be spilt up and sold off to private collectors overseas. It should be a
National Treasure, placed safely in the hands of Aboriginal people and remain
on public view. If you would like further information visit www.blackfellasdreaming.com.au.

Marton Gardens
/ Waterloo
Green mosaic plans on display

The mosaic design proposal for the Marton Gardens
/ Waterloo Green mosaic is now completed. It is on display at the Factory Community
Centre and is available for viewing, any comments or feedback is welcome. The
project has formal approval from DOH and they have also kindly donated some
extra funds in addition to the City of Sydney
funding to help with unexpected costs. The next stage will involve working both
off site initially and then work on site actually creating the Mosaic. If you
have any comments or would like to be involved contact Mike Shreenan, Housing
Communities Assistance Program (HCAP) Redfern Waterloo Community Development
Worker at The Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan St Waterloo 2017 Ph: 8399
1011 Fax: 9310 4141.

The exhibition opens on Thursday 12th April 2007 with a
welcome to country by Clare McHugh from Metro Land Council. Aboriginal
filmmaker Sonya Brindle has a video installation in the show. You will be
entertained by some of inner Sydney’s
best known Aboriginal performers. Musician and film and television actor Alfred
Coolwell will play the (yiddaki) digeridoo. Hip Hop maestro WireMC will lay
down the beats. WireMC is a dynamo who energises young Redfern Aborigines to
express themselves through rap music. You will meet Aboriginal artists and
activists who are part of the new wave of black Australian creativity. For
details contact Lisa Hogben 0418 225 965 or email lisahogben@optusnet.com.au.

Joel Beasant (lead singer of Andorra), Donelle Enoch (a founding member
of Bangarra) and Lani Tuitavake (general manager of the Aboriginal Housing
Company) are looking for performers and those interested in helping with the
next Rock the Block activity which is due to be held on 5th May
2007. More information is available on the REDWatch website at Rocking the Block Plans
for ‘07 .

Looking to work in hospitality? Love working with food and want to make
a career of it? Yaama Dhinawan is Australia’s first and only
hospitality college specialising in Indigenous culture and cuisine. It offers
accredited Certificate II Training in Hospitality (Operations) with a focus on
gaining employment in the hospitality industry. Five courses will be run in
2007. Yaama Dhinawan Hospitality
Training Now Enrolling. For more information contact Louise Wagner,
at the Redfern-Waterloo Authority by phone 02 9202 9100 or email louise.wagner@rwa.nsw.gov.au.

With changes in Geoff’s work arrangements Updates have not been coming
out as frequently as last year. You can still find out the latest about Redfern
Waterloo as it happens by looking at the Recent Changes section of the
REDWatch website. News stories, coming events and other information are still
being added to the site as they happen. If you set up an RSS feed to this page
you can have the latest news delivered to your computer as it is posted.

The CarriageWorks are getting big gigs having recently hosted the luxury
Italian fashion house Gucci’s launch of its Spring/Summer 2007 Collection as
reported in Gucci - from Milan to
Redfern. This was followed up by the popular Silverchair return
concert.